I was reluctant to go to see this film, because of its length -6 hours! "Do I have to sacrifice a whole my day off for one film??" But I went anyway as I was so curious about the hypes from reviews around this unusual film.<br /><br />And result is, there is nothing "Hype" about this, it live with its hype and more that the that. This film turned out to be a masterpiece, to be remembered forever in movie history and be ranked with films like "Godfather", "Seven Samurai" "What a wonderful life" Shawshank Redemption" etc.<br /><br />What a magnificent film... where can I begin? The story? The story draw both destiny of troubled Italy and ordinary middle class Italian family, both Macro and micro story is combined seamless, you will experience and get thorough the turbulence time of Italy and the family from 1960s-2003.<br /><br />All main actors are top class, acting so naturally from their early unresponsively 20s student times to bitter/sweet grey hair late mid age times without false note. Particualry Maya Sansa, I think the Star was born here (her another recent film, "Good morning, night" is another evidence). I haven't seen an actress with such a presence and ability in last few years. Needless to say about the lead roles, Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni, both shows such a true resonance of all the emotions. Also, its nice to know 70's Italian movie icon, Adriana Asti still keep that elegance.<br /><br />The greatest thing is the directors sympathetic eye to all the characters. Most of characters are given real three dimension character in the course of 40 years time in this film, all of them have their own life and problems. each character come with such a detail & depth, you will feel like they are your real family at the end of the film. <br /><br />The length of this films seems weakness of it, but actually strongest point lay in there. Because of the length, you are able to feel the passage of 30 years of time in the film, and you can feel characters so close, it grows in you during the film. Towards the end of the film, you may do not want to say good bye to them, don't want film to finish! <br /><br />Like all the masterpiece I mentioned above, this film come with some memorable scene <br /><br />(Warning - Spoiler) <br /><br />Matteo jumps from window - its so abrupt but still make sense, its so realistic -his face are painful before and such a quiet pain he shows that night without any big speech. Nicola and Mirella walking in the forest and Matteo appears and touched them... I never cried that much in the cinema. Not like Hollywood film, this scene doesn't come with any sentimental big music or emotional speech (actually its speechless), its very subtle, still so strongly moving... Giulia met Sarah at church after she released, and Sarah asked Giulia to play church's organ... <br /><br />(Spoiler end)<br /><br />Actually, if you don't want show your friends/family your crying/sobbing face, you should avoid this film all the cost, its that moving, so powerful.<br /><br />Conclusion - true gem, masterpiece. Best film I've even seen last 5 years. If you love movie, you can't miss this film. Your 6 hours will be more that rewarded. 12 out of 10.